How to Write Your Scientific

Paper
Table of Contents
Title Page
Abstract
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Methods and Materials
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
Literature Cited
Appendix
Scientists frequently communicate the results of their work in research
reports. They tell others what study they performed, why they did it, what
they discovered, and what it means. Regardless of the specific discipline
involved, all research reports follow a general format: Title Page,
Abstract, Acknowledgments, Introduction, Methods and Materials, Results,
Discussion, Conclusion, and Literature Cited (and Appendices, if necessary).
The separate sections are described below. Additional helpful information
about writing a scientific paper can be found at the JSHS website
www.jshs.org under Guidelines.
Your paper should follow this format, be neatly typed (double-spaced using
12 point font, and printed with a letter quality printer), and carefully
edited. Your paper should not exceed 20 pages, not including appendices,
tables, and figures. Each section of the paper should be clearly labeled
with a section title. Refer to the Scientific Paper Evaluation Form for
details about how your paper will be evaluated in determining whether or
not you will be invited to present your research at the ASHSSS meeting.
Title Page
Title page should include Research Paper Title, Author, School, City, State,
and Date. Make the title of your study concise, descriptive, and

informative. Your title should indicate the nature of your research.

"Studies on slug slime" is not as descriptive as "Chemical constituents of
slug slime."
Abstract
It is best to write your abstract AFTER completing a draft of your
scientific paper.
(See How to Write An Abstract for more details.)
Acknowledgments
You should acknowledge the assistance of those who helped with your
study: mentors, financial supporters, teachers, scientists, proofreaders,
typists, etc. You should keep this section brief, but be sure to identify
major contributions. Some examples of acknowledgments include: "I thank
Backwoods Paper Company for needed supplies, research space, and
advice..." "I thank the following for advice and guidance: Mr. James
Sprague (my teacher), Ms. Joy Adams, Mr. Todd Reed, and Ms. Rita
Iretowsha (fellow students)..."
Introduction
What problem did you investigate? Why did you choose this subject, and
why is it important? What hypotheses did you test? Based upon your
reading, what results did you anticipate, and why? The introduction should
address these and similar questions. To tackle the last question, some
literature (library) research will be necessary. If you include information
from other sources to explain what is currently known about the topic and
why you are anticipating certain results, be sure to cite those references
in the body of your paper. (See the Literature Cited section of these
instructions for details.) Assume that the reader is scientifically literate,
but may not be familiar with the specifics of your study.
Be careful not to fall into the trap of believing that all research must have
world-shaking consequences to the human race. That certainly is not true.
You may be simply investigating a small facet of the life history of some
creature. If so, don't bother fabricating a story simply to "justify" your
work.
Methods and Materials

How did you conduct your study? What equipment did you use? What
procedures did you follow?
Relate your procedures in sufficient detail so that someone else (or you!)
could repeat the experiment. Species of organisms studied may be
important (depending upon the type of study); the level of precision of your
instruments is certainly important to mention here. Since your procedures
have been completed, report them using past tense. You may use first
person, active voice ("We added 2 ml of water...") or passive voice ("Two ml
of water were added..."). This section should be written in narrative,
paragraph format, not as a list of numbered steps, and should not include
any results. Materials should not be listed separately, but should be
included in the description of the methods. Use figures, if appropriate, to
help the reader picture the equipment. Include criteria for selection and an
"informed consent" statement if human subjects were used. If using a
standard method, you may cite the literature reference and give only the
details specific to your experiment. If your work is based on a
questionnaire or survey, include the blank questionnaire/survey as part of
the Methods section (or place it in an appendix and refer to it in the
Methods section).
Results
What did you find? Present the results of your research in a logical order.
Use tables and figures (such as graphs) to visually aid your reader to see
and understand your results readily. Tables and figures need to be
numbered and titled separately. This will enable you to refer to them in
text quite easily ("Data in Table 3 suggest that plants are..."). Each table or
figure also needs a descriptive caption to aid the reader in deciphering
what is supposed to be seen in that particular table or figure. Even though
you may present your results in a table or figure, be certain to explain in
the body of your paper the important features of each. If a trend is
indicated in a figure, point out that trend to your reader. DO NOT
INTERPRET your results in this section. That comes next!
Discussion
In this section, you should interpret your results. What do your results
mean? Are data consistent with your initial hypothesis? Do data support or
reject your hypothesis? Do you need to revise the hypothesis? How do your
results compare with the results of other scientists performing similar
experiments? What conclusions can be drawn from the results of your

experiment? If there are ambiguities in your results, what further

experiments need to be performed? What are possible directions for
future research? What are the theoretical implications or practical
applications of your work?
Conclusion
What do you conclude, based upon your work and reading on this topic?
Wrap up your paper with a brief summary of your conclusions.
Literature Cited
When you refer to the work of another scientist in your paper, you must
indicate the source of that information. That way, someone reading your
paper will realize that the information comes from another project. Also,
the reader may wish to examine other experiments, such as the one you
cited. Failure to cite the work of another scientist (that you used in writing
your paper) results in a serious offense (plagiarism) that is akin to stealing
and is severely frowned upon. Therefore, all information that is not from
your experiment and is not "common knowledge" must be acknowledged by a
citation.
The preferred method of citing a reference in text in most scientific
papers is the author-date system. The citation (author last name and year
of publication) should be placed naturally into the flow of the sentence. If
the name of the author appears as part of the text, cite only the year of
the publication. For example, "Campbell (1975) saw gulls driving incubating
females from their nests." Otherwise, place both the name and year in
parentheses, as in "Gulls have been observed to drive incubating females
from their nests (Campbell 1975)." If there are two authors, cite them
both, as in "(Dwernychuk and Boag 1972)." When there are more than two
authors, cite only the name of the first author and indicate the rest by
using "et al." (meaning "and all others"), as in "(Divoky et al. 1974)." When a
reference has no individual author or the author is unknown, use the name
of the agency or group which published the document, or the name of the
lead editor. If there is no author, agency, or editor, use all or part of the
title (enough of the title that the reference can be easily identified).
The most common method of listing articles cited in your paper is to place
them in a "Literature Cited" section at the end of the paper. All literature
cited in the body of your paper must be listed in your Literature Cited
section, and all references in the list must be cited in the text.

Sources not actually cited should not be included in the Literature Cited
section. (This is different from a bibliography, in which you list everything
you read, whether or not you actually cited it in your paper.)
References should be listed in alphabetical order, according to the
first author's last name. All types of references should be lumped
together before you alphabetize--do not make separate lists for books,
articles, etc. References should be single spaced and left justified, with
additional lines indented five spaces (1/2 inch). Double-space between
references. Works by the same person should be arranged chronologically
by the date of publication. Be sure to include enough information that each
source can be identified and located.
The following examples should be helpful.
(The comments on the left are there to explain each entry, but should not
be included in the Literature Cited section of your paper. The information
inside the box is what your Literature Cited section should look like.)

Literature Cited
pamphlet,
organization
author

as

American Society for Microbiology. 1994. Slide

and poster requirements. Pamphlet. Washington,
DC: ASM.

interview

Barber, J.D. 8 May 1995. Interview by author.

Carbondale, IL.

telephone
conversation

Barber,
J.D.
communication.

15

May

1995.

Personal

one

Day, R.A. 1994. How to write and publish a

scientific paper. 4th ed. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

journal article,
more than one
author

Kohara, Y., K. Akiyama, and K. Isono. 1987. The

physical map of the whole E. coli chromosome:
application of a new strategy for rapid analysis

book,
author

and sorting of a large genomic library. Cell

50:495-508.
encyclopedia,
editor/no author

Lorimer, L.T., ed. 1993. Magnet and magnetism.

In Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. 15. New York:
Americana Corp.

internet

Martin,
Linda.
08
Nov.
1997.
General
Information.
<http://www.science.siu.edu/ijshs/info.html>
Accessed 20 Nov. 1997.

newspaper,
discontinuous
pages

McDonald, K.A. 15 Dec 1995. Researchers ponder

a stormy forecast. The Chronicle of Higher
Education. A12, A16.

newspaper,
author

no

Study finds free care used more. May 1989. APA

Monitor. 14.

Appendix
Appendices contain supplemental information such as lists of terms,
definitions, or questionnaires that are useful but not essential to the body
of the research paper. If you have a large table of raw data, but most of it
is not essential to the discussion in your paper, you could include the
complete table as an appendix. A smaller table with a subset of data (or a
summary of the data) could then be included in the body of your paper. If
you have more than one set of materials to include, give each a number:
Appendix 1, Appendix 2, etc.

This Web Site was created by Jock Irons

Last updated on December 18, 2001